Pennsylvania Teacher, Rachel DelTondo, Murdered in her Mother’s Driveway On Mother’s Day; Police Call it ‘Crime of Passion’ Or ‘Jealousy’

May 15, 2018

Rachel DelTondo

A teacher in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, was fatally shot in her mother’s driveway on Sunday night, according to multiple reports.

Rachael DelTondo, 32, was coming home from getting ice cream with a friend on Mother’s Day. As she got out of the car, an unidentified assailant shot her multiple times — neighbors reported hearing between 10 and 12 gunshots. Her family and friend ran outside to help her.

Police were called to the scene around 10:30 p.m., where they pronounced DelTondo dead.

The sudden violence has stunned people who lived on the quiet street where she was killed.

“She was a very, very nice girl,” neighbor Philomena Rossi told CBS News. “Prime of her life, and this is what happens.”

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DelTondo worked as a teacher at the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School until last fall. She was suspended from her job after the mother of a student alleged that she was involved in an incident involving her teenage son. A police report obtained by several news outlets alleged that officers found DelTondo and the boy in a parked car around 2 a.m.

DelTondo was never charged in the incident.

Brian Hayden, the CEO of Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School issued a statement expressing sorrow at the incident. “We were saddened this morning to learn of the tragic death of Rachel DelTondo, apparently the result of a violent incident in the City of Aliquippa,” Hayden said. “We have no additional information beyond what is being reported by local media. We express our sympathy to her family, friends, and coworkers. Ms. DelTondo was employed by PA Cyber but on a paid suspension.”

It is unclear if this incident was related to DelTondo’s killing.

Investigators say the murder of a former teacher who was gunned down in her mother’s driveway in Aliquippa over the weekend was “a crime of passion.”

Police investigators say they’ll take all the time they need to find and convict the killer of Rachael DelTondo.

“We could not be taking this more seriously. We had a young woman, 33-years-old, shot to death on the driveway of her mother’s house on Mother’s Day evening,” said Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier.

They’ve been canvassing the neighborhood, reviewing surveillance tapes, and have sent DelTondo’s cell phone and others to a lab in Harrisburg to unlock the data, texts and communications.

“We’re investigating everyone that was driving in Aliquippa that night that was anywhere near this young lady’s house,” Lozier said.

Lozier won’t say if police have a suspect. But investigators believe DelTondo knew her assailant, and that the evidence will show her murder was “a crime of passion.”